


loyalty carved like runes in her bones

by stifledlaughter



Category: The Magpie Chronicles
Genre: Author: Michaela Ro, Book: Shine the Brightest (The Magpie Chronicles #1), Bulgae, Character Study, Gen, Series: The Magpie Chronicles, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:42:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25991536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stifledlaughter/pseuds/stifledlaughter
Summary: "Tell me then, good bartender, do you think my bulgae knows I love her?"---(Youji is confronted with questions he is not prepared to answer regarding loyalty and love.)
Kudos: 9





	loyalty carved like runes in her bones

**Author's Note:**

> Once again I am having feelings about Youji! Please read about them below. 
> 
> This fanfic is based on the first book (Shine the Brightest) of The Magpie Chronicles by Michaela Ro. Please read it first before reading this fic as it contains spoilers!

She appeared wealthy, refined, and therefore is extremely out of place at Youji's bar. 

"Thank you for your kindness, good bartender," said the woman, smiling softly, and Youji leaned forward, resting his wrists on the worn wood. She was a kappa, if Youji was reading her right. "If you hadn't been outside when our transportation broke, we'd have been stranded." 

"Looks like the repair crew is on their way," said Youji. "You might be here for a while, if they choose to take their time."

"I suppose I'm in no great hurry, my employer isn't expecting me for another few days or so. I just wanted some time to explore the capital on my own time," she said. "But that is no worry when I have good company."

Youji glanced around the bar- no one else around at this time of night. She must have been traveling at night to avoid the heat. "It's lonesome company, you know - just the bartender."

"And of course my favorite companion," she said, tilting her head to the door where her bulgae stood guard outside.

She was an old one - grayed muzzle, eyes mildly clouded, and a softness to her fur that Youji could see from out the window. 

"She's a pretty one," said Youji, angling for the kind of compliment the woman would seem to like. 

"A strong one," corrected the woman, and Youji noticed that the woman had tiny nicks and scars on her hands, and upon further inspection, held herself a little more sternly than the average noblewoman.

Ah. He'd misjudged her. 

"She's been with my family since my grandmother. The woman raised my Jinya from a pup - biggest of her litter, a fighter. When your family makes weapons tech, you draw attention to yourself, and she makes people think twice about getting closer." 

"Bulgae - loyal to the core," agreed Youji, sliding her the drink she'd ordered. "Anything else with that sake?" 

"Perhaps some rice crackers," she said, pulling the glass towards herself. As Youji shuffled around in his cabinets to find her refreshments, she said, "Do you know much about bulgae?"

"Came from a family of breeders. Left because I can't stay in one place," he lied, sliding her a plate stacked high with crackers. 

"Tell me then, good bartender, do you think she knows I love her?" 

Youji blinked at the very intense question. "Excuse me?" 

She looked back at the window. Her bulgae stood attentively at the door, looking out, ears flicking. Despite Youji's certainty that the fire dog (Jinya, he recalled the woman saying) likely couldn't see more than thirty feet in front of her, the dog seemed intent on watching any of the movement that passed by the bar. Jinya wrinkled her nose and lifted it in the air, huffing out. 

"I know they say that fire dogs are not as intelligent as humans, but surely they must know they are loved," said the woman thoughtfully, and Youji's chest felt tight. "I suppose I tell her often enough, in the way that one would tell a child they are loved, but do they truly know?"

"Isn't her loyalty proof of that?" said Youji, wondering how to get out of this conversation without being crushed by the sense of sadness threatening him already. He could normally avoid the thoughts of his past life, but not today, it seemed. "Since she's stayed in the family so long."

"She was with my grandmother, and then my mother, and now me. I feel like loyalty is carved like runes in her bones. My daughters have their own fire dogs, so I believe Jinya will... end her days at my side," said the woman, her voice softer than it had been since they began talking. "And I suppose I see the signs, and it hurts me so. The limp - the loss of appetite- the slowness to wake in the mornings. Sometimes I wonder if she knows that she is valued beyond her loyalty. If she understands the concept of love and loyalty, and that in the absence of either from her, I'd love her regardless.'

"They do," murmured Youji, trying his best not to look at the bulgae standing attention at the door. 

The woman smiled. "I've always thought that, but my mother told me to stop assigning such humanlike behaviors to them. And I've never told anyone this but when I lost my first child - a boy, barely birthed, ill within a week - Jinya comforted me as if she understood. And when my mother told me that Jinya had lost her first pup as well, I felt... I felt like she truly _did_ understand. But given how my mother felt about the distance between bulgae and us, I never told her." The woman looked down into her glass and said, fondly, "I tell her constantly what a good girl she is, what a strong protector she's been for me, but I don't know if she knows." 

"She knows," Youji said, absently cleaning glasses now to distract his shaking hands. To look anywhere but at a master and their beloved. "They always know."

The woman looked up at Youji, her eyes warm. "Well. That's a relief to hear." 

The brief silence that followed was broken by her Cricket chirping. She tapped it and said, "Ah, the repairs are done. Speedy work. I suppose telling them I'm being called by the Red Dragon for my services helped that along."

"Mhm," said Youji, having no idea what that meant. "Travel safe." 

She said her farewell and left him payment with a lavish tip on the counter. Youji watched her step outside, reaching out for Jinya who immediately ducked her head under the woman's hand, nuzzling up against it.

Stomach twisting in envy, Youji tried not to remember what it felt like to be under a gentle hand. To be called, and to be greeted warmly when he came running. To be given a task and praised when it was executed perfectly. To be loved.

Youji set down the glass, put the money in the till, and decided then to close up for the night. He went home where there was no one to call out his name, and fell asleep in a home that no one cared if he was absent from. 

He slept uneasily into the night, paws curling up to his muzzle, with only his own fur to keep him warm. 


End file.
